TEP - Transit Effectiveness Project (Muni Forward)

The TEP was an in-depth planning process that brought together technology, technical expertise, and deep community insight to better understand and thus better solve the problems affecting San Francisco’s transit network, and represented the first major evaluation of the Muni system in 30 years. In March 2014, the SFMTA Board of Directors approved the majority of recommendations that emerged from this planning process, including an overall 12 percent service increase.

The changes—some major, some minor—are distributed across an extensive system of over 75 bus, trolley, rail, cable car, and streetcar lines, together weaving their way across a 49 square-mile service area, and serving 700,000 trips a day. Behind these system-wide statistics are real people—our customers—and SFMTA is now taking additional steps to preserve and enhance the quality, consistency, and seamlessness of our customers’ experience with its launch of the Muni Forward program.

The Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) was a planning project developed to achieve SFMTA's goal of helping San Francisco remain a vibrant, livable, world-class, transportation-rich city and realize its Transit First Policy. Its focus is Muni: at once, the transit backbone of a transportation-rich system that connects all modes and all people, but also a system that has failed to keep pace with a changing San Francisco. By way of an extensive planning process supported by data, engagement with the community at various levels, and critical lessons learned through the implementation of pilot projects, the TEP represented the first major evaluation of San Francisco's mass transit system in thirty years.

The TEP has informed numerous projects that are now planned for implementation as a part of Muni Forward, which is the project focused on enacting Muni system enhancements and modifications that look beyond the bus to the end-to-end customer experience - from the walk, to the wait, to the ride. In conjunction with other Muni programs, the TEP built the blueprint for improving mobility for all residents while making Muni a great transportation choice for residents and visitors alike. The TEP included two categories of implementation tools to modernize Muni: 1) "Rapid" Proposals (or Travel Time Reduction Proposals), and 2) Network Service and Route Changes. In addition, the TEP proposed improvements the customer experience by updating maps and investing in new signage to clearly communicate route information. Some of the many improvements identified and informed by the TEP include:

- Better reliability and on-time performance

- More user-friendly customer experiences

- Faster travel times

- More accessible service

- Safer boardings on busiest routes

- Better air quality and less congestion

- Shorter wait times

Project Details, History or Features

Muni Service and Route Changes

At a special meeting on March 28, 2014, after SFMTA staff conducted extensive outreach about its numerous TEP service change proposals, collected a great deal of feedback about the proposals from members of the public, and made changes to the proposals based on that feedback, the SFMTA Board of Directors approved and legislated many of the TEP service change proposals. These proposals are now being planned for implementation as a part of Muni Forward. Approved proposals for route restructuring, frequency improvements, and vehicle type changes were adapted into the Muni Forward Implementation Plan.

CREATING A RAPID NETWORK

The planning process conducted as a part of the TEP identified the need for a "Rapid" network (or travel time teduction strategies), which are now being planned for implementation as a part of Muni Forward.

The proposed Rapid Network includes the following corridors:

- J Church: Balboa Park Station to Market

- L Taraval: West Portal to SF Zoo

- N Judah: La Playa to Cole

- 5 Fulton: La Playa to Market

- 9 San Bruno: 11th & Market to Bayshore & Alemany

- 14 Mission: Daly City BART to Embarcadero

- 2 8/28L 19th Avenue: Junipero Serra to California

- 7 Haight Noriega: Laguna to Stanyan

About the TEP Environmental Review Process:

The Planning Department conducted an environmental review of the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The environmental review process provides decision makers and the general public with an objective analysis of the immediate and long range specific and cumulative environmental impacts of a proposed project on its surrounding physical environment. In California, an environmental review is two-fold in purpose: to disclose the impacts of a project and to ensure public participation.

On March 27, 2014, the CEQA Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) developed for the TEP was legislated by the San Francisco Planning Commission. The Planning Department has more detailed information about the TEP environmental review process that took place.